Right now as I type this, Lauren is sleeping next to me in bed with a 102.7 fever. Well, I think and hope it's a bit lower now that she's had Tylenol. Poor little girl is sick, we don't know what it is but probably just a virus. She has been so polite to me tonight, so sweet. This morning we didn't know she was ill and dragged her around town. She had a little meltdown and screamed, "I'm feeling CRANKY". Well, 102.7 would put me out of sorts, too!
She's come so far in the past few months. She really seems like a 3 year old and not a toddler any longer. She loves to come back from places and tell the complete story of her day, and she's a great storyteller. Yesterday we went to an Angels game with Ryan & his Uncle Bud. I told her, "see those guys down there in the white shirts with red hats? They are the Angels, Uncle Bud's favorite team." She had a twinkle in her eye and responded, "Well...MY favorite team is the guys in the black jackets!" (umpires!)
Physically, she can climb around on the playground more and do more things on her own. She can put her own shoes and socks on. She's been doing that for awhile, but now she gets the right feet sometimes! And takes the initiative when she knows we're about to leave, to sit by the door and do it herself.
The biggest advances, though, have been the sleeping in her own bed (on a mattress in the floor in our room next to our bed, but still) and wearing underwear most of the time during the day. In fact, because of her illness I've been having her wear diapers today and she's really fought it.
She likes being an only child, but sometimes she tells me "Someday I am going to have a brother AND a sister. And they'll be little babies at first but then they'll grow into big people. They won't be dogs or pets, either. People!" This clarification is because we always called Jake, the dog, her brother.
She had her first enemey at school, a little girl, M., whom she tried to befriend. When M. didn't want to play, she pulled M.'s hair. Then M. bit her and got in trouble and had to bring her an ice pack. Then M. also had some food allergies so Lauren couldn't share a snack she had wanted to share with the whole class so she felt irritated at M. This was back in April. But now, the two of them play together really well and when I picked her up at school, they hugged each other good0bye. When we went out to the parking lot, Lauren came up with the brilliant idea that we should try to race our car with her mom's and follow them to their house and see where M. lived so we could get her to come out and play. I explained the concept of "stalking". ;)
Every month (ok, 2 months) when I write this, I finish the post and then remember about 5 really big deal things Lauren actually spent much of the month doing that I neglected to post about. Oh, here's one: her favorite food these days is penne pasta with pesto. She also likes to eat extra sharp Cheddar, Regiannito, Jarlsberg, and cheese with strong flavor. She will eat Meunster and Mozarella but that's about as mild as she'll go. She likes pesto so much that she will, if allowed access, spoon it directly out of the food processor bowl.
She's getting much better about remembering to say "please" and "thank-you" on her own without prompting. It's nice to hear "No thank you, Mom, but thanks for asking". And in fact, I am "Mom" most of the time now. Not Mamba anymore like when she was 1, not Mamma or Mommy, but just Mom. D-Daddio still gets his old name, but sometimes "M'Daddy" or just "Dad". "Papa" has become "Poppy" and "Ammy" is sometimes "my Gwamma". My mom is still "Nonna" but sometimes "NoNEEEEEE".
We have been reading some books from my childhood, and let me tell you, those Sweet Pickles books are pretty strange. How did I ever like them so much? :) She finally likes to play with Legos. As with a lot of things Lauren does, she seemed to go from barely doing it to doing it as if she had practiced every day, with no time in between. Today she effortlessly got out the Legos herself, made a tower out of them, and when she was done, disassembled them and put them away. I'll post a pic of it....
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
A Little Whine with your Cheese
Just had to vent here. If you are contemplating parenthood, spoiler alerts below. You may want to avoid reading this because I will use the words poop, diarrhea, and diaper.
We have this not-swine flu thing at our house right now. Which means I have not been at work since...week before last? I usually go in to the office on Wednesdays and work from home on Monday/Friday mornings except the 2 times a month I have to co-op at Lauren's school. And then check in for few minutes here and there on other days for quick things. Anyway, last Monday I had to bring Lauren to the doctor because she had a little fever, a rash on her trunk, and was whiney. Which for her, could mean ear infections. She gets them every few months. This time, no ear infections and the diagnosis was "just the tail end of a cold or virus" and she was cleared to go back to school. Wednesday she went to school, but I stayed home, was completely weak and fighting a sore throat. But I had so much to do from missing Monday that I couldn't quite relax and sleep so I didn't fight it off.
We haven't been altogether better since. However, Lauren got worse, had a fever over the weekend and more sore throat/coughing/runny nose/eye discharge and missed school again yesterday and went back to the doctor. Add diarrhea to the mix. The doctor gave us albuterol to help her breathe, and told me that she is okay to go back to school today (which we would do except Tuesday/Thursdays she is not at school). Now, though, the leaky diarrhea diapers are starting. See, this is the part you might not want to read. I am exhausted from all of this Lauren mommy-daughter time. I am grossed out by the 6 diapers I changed and the 4 loads of laundry with hot water and bleach washing all of the towels and sheets and 3 pair of her pants that it leaked on. I have to still deal with the spots on the carpet. I want to throw up, it is that bad.
Also because of being sick, Lauren's sleep schedule is shot. She went to bed at 6:00 p.m. last night, then woke up at 10:00 and stayed up until 3:00 a.m. I tried everything to get her to sleep but nothing worked until then. Then we woke up at 8:30 a.m., so of course that is only 5 1/2 hours of sleep for me so you might imagine (if you didn't catch it from the tone of this post) that I am CRANKY.
And through it all, my fantasy. Nothing complex or expensive. I am dreaming of the very-soon day when I can go to my office, sit at my computer and do some work. Where it smells pleasant, the people are nice and I am paid to be there, and thanked regularly. Where no one pulls my hair or poops on me or even discusses their bodily functions. I am hoping this day is tomorrow. Because I reeeeeeeeeally need Lauren to be all better and back in school or I may go insane.
We have this not-swine flu thing at our house right now. Which means I have not been at work since...week before last? I usually go in to the office on Wednesdays and work from home on Monday/Friday mornings except the 2 times a month I have to co-op at Lauren's school. And then check in for few minutes here and there on other days for quick things. Anyway, last Monday I had to bring Lauren to the doctor because she had a little fever, a rash on her trunk, and was whiney. Which for her, could mean ear infections. She gets them every few months. This time, no ear infections and the diagnosis was "just the tail end of a cold or virus" and she was cleared to go back to school. Wednesday she went to school, but I stayed home, was completely weak and fighting a sore throat. But I had so much to do from missing Monday that I couldn't quite relax and sleep so I didn't fight it off.
We haven't been altogether better since. However, Lauren got worse, had a fever over the weekend and more sore throat/coughing/runny nose/eye discharge and missed school again yesterday and went back to the doctor. Add diarrhea to the mix. The doctor gave us albuterol to help her breathe, and told me that she is okay to go back to school today (which we would do except Tuesday/Thursdays she is not at school). Now, though, the leaky diarrhea diapers are starting. See, this is the part you might not want to read. I am exhausted from all of this Lauren mommy-daughter time. I am grossed out by the 6 diapers I changed and the 4 loads of laundry with hot water and bleach washing all of the towels and sheets and 3 pair of her pants that it leaked on. I have to still deal with the spots on the carpet. I want to throw up, it is that bad.
Also because of being sick, Lauren's sleep schedule is shot. She went to bed at 6:00 p.m. last night, then woke up at 10:00 and stayed up until 3:00 a.m. I tried everything to get her to sleep but nothing worked until then. Then we woke up at 8:30 a.m., so of course that is only 5 1/2 hours of sleep for me so you might imagine (if you didn't catch it from the tone of this post) that I am CRANKY.
And through it all, my fantasy. Nothing complex or expensive. I am dreaming of the very-soon day when I can go to my office, sit at my computer and do some work. Where it smells pleasant, the people are nice and I am paid to be there, and thanked regularly. Where no one pulls my hair or poops on me or even discusses their bodily functions. I am hoping this day is tomorrow. Because I reeeeeeeeeally need Lauren to be all better and back in school or I may go insane.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Overthinking a ficus plant
What a silly little thing to even write about. I have been giving this way too much thought. I have this ficus plant that surprisingly has been with me since I moved to LA in 1999. (I say surprisingly because most of the plants from my early gardening days did not live long.) It used to sit in a little pot on my fireplace mantle in my old apartment. Then it moved with us to the condo, and lives on the patio outside. Once in awhile, it gets mad at me and drops a bunch of its leaves. But they grow back. I think I have repotted it twice, ever, in its 10 year history here. The second time was about 2 months ago.
Right after I repotted it, it got a second wind and shot up a few inches and developed new green shoots everywhere. It was very happy to be in its new pot. I had given my dad an agave plant which also used to live happily on my patio, until it reached 5 feet tall and it became clear that I would have to either buy a giant pot and a lot more soil and really way more patio real estate than it deserved, or else it would probably become root-bound and wither away. He took it and put it in the ground near his pool filter. It is doing okay there. Maybe it doesn't get as much water as I would have treated it to, and the edges are a bit brown but it's still alive. And definitely not root-bound.
Dad mentioned he was looking for a tree or bush to plant, and I thought of giving him the ficus because I have seen them planted in the dirt around here as bushes or trees and they seem to do really well. I'm guessing from the sudden growth spurt, that this plant will just grow grow grow to the limits of whatever container its in and will become a tall tree if no container. Anyway, I mentioned to him that he might want to take this plant.
Later, however, I saw the dead Christmas tree he got from me, the living tree which we bought in a pot from Home Depot, and gave him afterwards, which he'd said he would plant in his yard and which is now a nice shade of brownish orange. Turns out he redefined "yard" to include the 1/2 acre in the hill behind the house, which is natural chapparel (we call it "the scruff"). He planted it past the sprinkler system and I'm guessing, forgot to water it. They live in a desert climate in San Diego. The funny thing about this is my brother warned me to tell him to plant it "anywhere but where you planted that other Christmas tree from a few years ago that died". But I guess, dad had the hole already from where the last tree was planted. And he figured he would give it another shot....
Anyway, Dad mentioned recently that he really was looking forward to planting the ficus tree and that he has "just the spot for it". Can you guess where? Yes, on the hill.
The thing is, I really love my dad. Some people get screwed up for life because their parents abandon them or abuse them or otherwise do a bad job. My dad is just a billion times the opposite of that. But not just by the standard of "not a shitty father like some people get". Even if he was just a friend of mine, he'd still be one of my best friends. My whole life whenever I needed him, I could call him at any time and he would always talk and make me feel like I was the President on the line. Whoever else was with him would have to wait while he talked to me. And actually, it's still like that today for me AND the Pip. I talk to my parents on the phone more than any of my friends (my mom is great too but this post is about Daddles) and I walk to him on the phone at least twice a day on the days when he's not staying here. (And maybe even more on those days-- "what time are you coming home? can you stop and get some milk?")
And my dad, for everything he has given me, really does not ask for much in return. So now he wants this ficus plant. Which my brother, my mom and I all predict he is going to kill. And a plant which I suddenly realized, much like Lauren getting a case of the "mine's" when another kid plays with her toys, that I really like. Yet I am still going to give it to him. Because right now when I look at it, all I can think about is how my dad wants it too and I want him to be happy. Small sacrifice in the scheme of life. But I may take a clipping first. ;)
Right after I repotted it, it got a second wind and shot up a few inches and developed new green shoots everywhere. It was very happy to be in its new pot. I had given my dad an agave plant which also used to live happily on my patio, until it reached 5 feet tall and it became clear that I would have to either buy a giant pot and a lot more soil and really way more patio real estate than it deserved, or else it would probably become root-bound and wither away. He took it and put it in the ground near his pool filter. It is doing okay there. Maybe it doesn't get as much water as I would have treated it to, and the edges are a bit brown but it's still alive. And definitely not root-bound.
Dad mentioned he was looking for a tree or bush to plant, and I thought of giving him the ficus because I have seen them planted in the dirt around here as bushes or trees and they seem to do really well. I'm guessing from the sudden growth spurt, that this plant will just grow grow grow to the limits of whatever container its in and will become a tall tree if no container. Anyway, I mentioned to him that he might want to take this plant.
Later, however, I saw the dead Christmas tree he got from me, the living tree which we bought in a pot from Home Depot, and gave him afterwards, which he'd said he would plant in his yard and which is now a nice shade of brownish orange. Turns out he redefined "yard" to include the 1/2 acre in the hill behind the house, which is natural chapparel (we call it "the scruff"). He planted it past the sprinkler system and I'm guessing, forgot to water it. They live in a desert climate in San Diego. The funny thing about this is my brother warned me to tell him to plant it "anywhere but where you planted that other Christmas tree from a few years ago that died". But I guess, dad had the hole already from where the last tree was planted. And he figured he would give it another shot....
Anyway, Dad mentioned recently that he really was looking forward to planting the ficus tree and that he has "just the spot for it". Can you guess where? Yes, on the hill.
The thing is, I really love my dad. Some people get screwed up for life because their parents abandon them or abuse them or otherwise do a bad job. My dad is just a billion times the opposite of that. But not just by the standard of "not a shitty father like some people get". Even if he was just a friend of mine, he'd still be one of my best friends. My whole life whenever I needed him, I could call him at any time and he would always talk and make me feel like I was the President on the line. Whoever else was with him would have to wait while he talked to me. And actually, it's still like that today for me AND the Pip. I talk to my parents on the phone more than any of my friends (my mom is great too but this post is about Daddles) and I walk to him on the phone at least twice a day on the days when he's not staying here. (And maybe even more on those days-- "what time are you coming home? can you stop and get some milk?")
And my dad, for everything he has given me, really does not ask for much in return. So now he wants this ficus plant. Which my brother, my mom and I all predict he is going to kill. And a plant which I suddenly realized, much like Lauren getting a case of the "mine's" when another kid plays with her toys, that I really like. Yet I am still going to give it to him. Because right now when I look at it, all I can think about is how my dad wants it too and I want him to be happy. Small sacrifice in the scheme of life. But I may take a clipping first. ;)
Monday, April 06, 2009
3 year doctor visit vital stats
At 36 months:
your child is 40 pounds, and that is
at the 97th percentile for weight.
your child is 38.75 inches, and that is
at the 80th percentile for height.
Sadly, Lauren outgrew her Sit & Stroll, her Ibert seat, and her favorite jeans are now like capris! Shopping trip is in order. But she has no shortage of Easter-looking dresses. Too bad you can't really climb trees or go on hikes in them.
your child is 40 pounds, and that is
at the 97th percentile for weight.
your child is 38.75 inches, and that is
at the 80th percentile for height.
Sadly, Lauren outgrew her Sit & Stroll, her Ibert seat, and her favorite jeans are now like capris! Shopping trip is in order. But she has no shortage of Easter-looking dresses. Too bad you can't really climb trees or go on hikes in them.
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